Vayehi. Morais, Sabato. Philadelphia, PA. Undated
- Title
- Vayehi. Morais, Sabato. Philadelphia, PA. Undated
- Author
- Morais, Sabato
- Format
- 10 pages on 4 sheets
- Language(s)
- English
- Source
- Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies
- Sabato Morais Collection, Box 9, Folder 9
- Has Format
- https://colenda.library.upenn.edu/items/ark:/81431/p34747b5z/manifest.json
- Link to Colenda
- https://colenda.library.upenn.edu/catalog/81431-p34747b5z
- Provenance
- Transfer of Custody from the Hebrew Education Society, 10 March 1913.
- Is Format Of
- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/judaicadh/morais/main/TEI/SMBx9FF9_1.xml
- content
-
A moral lecture to youths on the 2d passage of the Haftorah for Vayehi.
"Be strong, and show thyself a man." So did spoke a father on the eve of his death speak to his a beloved son. And the youth he addressed, needed in very deed superior strength. Enemies fierce and formidable unrelenting lay in wait to hurl at him poisonous arrows. To repel them the youth must have mustered all his powers. A sign of weakness would have caused him to fall mortally wounded.
But is it not Solomon to whom that paternal charge was given? What vigour was he required? to exhibit? He whose very name (Shelomoh from Shalom) had prophetically been made to foreshadow a glorious reign of peace? Scarcely a ripple disturbed the regal sea on which David's favored son launched the ship of state. Crowned heads journeyed from foreign lands to survey what the poet-king had almost created by his military prowess. They came from afar distant regions to visit the realms domains he had bequeathed unimpaired to his successor. He came not with a challenge to battle, but with tributes of allegiance, and munificent gifts bespeaking friendship. Where did then the foes that the King-elect must resist with manly strength, lie concealed? They lurked within his heart. There, they met and designed plotted for an attack. There, they conspired to effect his rein. You have already understood it, my dear hearers!
Solomons' deadliest enemies were the very riches and dominions which his father had secured by his outstretched far-reaching arm. The teachers of old have wisely said that, [Hebrew] the higher is a man's temporal position, the greater are the inducements held out to him to do wrong. For, the facility to gratify passions, begets the wish, and this is intensified by the impunity which nobility of birth and wealth often accord. With the bulk of mankind, unruly cravings are tempered down by a multiplicity of feelings, which stir in the breast. By a desire to earn a competence, to gain a reputation; by a thirst for worldly honors, by a fear of public disgrace. But individuals who possess all things, and dread nothing, will be apt to bend the mind solely upon the reaching attaining of one object, the indulgence of immoderate passions. To those us who move among their our equals or supe--riors, it may seem as if a thousand eyes scrutinized their our conduct, but they whom chance has placed above all others, will consider that no human looks can reach as far high as where they have been elevated. Unchecked by censure, goaded on by flattery, the heirs of rank and opulence frequently enjoy that to which the unremitting labor of their fathers gives them a title, adding not a little thereto by their own efforts. They eat to the full of the sweet fruits of parental planting,
and, tasting none of the bitterness experienced while gathering them for the future, waste in idleness and debauch what should have been preserved by industry and purity. Aye: sloth and its inseparable companion profligacy, plot together to hasten on destruction. Such were the enemies which an anxious parent depreciated; and at the hour of a lasting separation from him that he would have sustained by his counsel, the faltering quivering lips uttered these words. "I go the way of all the earth, be thou therefore strong, and show thyself a man" I shall not now explain now how far the parting monition was heeded. The evidences of Solomon's vigor in first grappling with evil, and of his fatal weakness which made him finally succumb, can be distinctly traced in the pages of an impartial history. But as I believe that, without being surrounded by the same temptations which beset royalty, many a youth needs the advice which stands at the head of to-day's prophetic section, of the prophets, I will repeat it to each. "Be strong and show thyself a man" [Hebrew] You lose a claim to that name, when you become wedded to animals cravings appetites. Fo When you chain reason to the ever-rolling wheel of low passions. Weaker than a powerless infant, is that rational being proves
himself, who he allows the fleeting present to so overrule his actions, that he cannot retrace his steps on being slavishly dragged into a pit of corruption. A youth that is wise, considers the immense advantages which will flow from controlling the wanton the impulses of the moment, and the the fearful consequences attending their gratification. Or, as the Rabbins have said it, [Hebrew] he will place on the scales of his judgment the slight privations he may suffer in performing a high duty, together with the vast reward forthcoming, and the temporary pleasures offered by sin with the severity of the punishment which will surely follow it. For, that is virtue, which in its primitive sense signifies, manly strength; to pause before doing a wrong and shake off temptation; to force immoderate wishes under the yoke of chastening morality. It is a virtue not less powerful than beautiful; overspreading the soul of youths with a brightness reflected in the countenance. For, hideous in looks is the most stately form stooping to vice, and fairest among the fair, the homely face radiant with purity. Only idlers Wisdom turns away with abhorrence from the former, while she folds the latter in a sweet embrace. Only idlers, or vile schemers who seek to feather their own nest with the falling plumage of richer birds--if I may use the simile--are the friends of the unchaste and dissolute.
They will applaud, when the noble-minded would frown, make merry over that which will excite the wroth of the upright; but let the penalty which dissipation is bound to pay be laid upon the guilty, and soon will those smiling associates depart, leaving but shame and remorse, as shattered body and a broken spirit, as companions to the inconsiderate transgressor. Then will he be heard to exclaim. "How could I have thus hated in--struction, and let my heart despise admonition? How could I have rejoiced to do evil, and delighted in the forwardness of the wicked? How could I have suffered passing moments to strip me of the nobility of manhood?" But writes the moralist, "wisdom will mock you in the day of your calamity, deride you when fear cometh at the last. For you would receive none of her counsels, you set at naught her reproofs."
Be strong therefore O youths, and show yourselves men. In pro--portion to your social condition, so must must be the vigour you shall call to your assistance. The child of poverty doubt--less sees enticements rise and beckon to him to follow where they direct. He that is covered with rags and eats the bread of toil, may be sorely tempted by at the sight of gold. But the youth who rolls in gold, stands confronted by seductions more tyrannical and [?] appalling. The intoxicating bowl, and the
gaming board, and libertinism, cast inviting looks towards him. "Come child of fortune, for you have kind parents ammassed wealth. Do not deny yourself pleasures. Time will hang on your hands, if you refuse to spend it agreeably." So does the enemy of human virtue speak to the heirs of opulence. Woe unto them that listen. Better had they never been born. For they dig a grave wide and deep where will be buried the paternal heritage with their own name. Pity such, my young friends! Pity the unfortunate possessor of corruptive riches. He that surrenders his manliness to worldly seductions. Like a feeble bark, buffetted by every wind, he must be overthrown; for, the power of resistance was taken from him, when he disdained to lend his hands to soul-saving labor. Work, work, that is the ordinance of nature, which we cannot disobey without incurring the severest danger, the loss of character & of health. That idler all perfumed and gloved, who eats by the sweat of his father's brow, cannot repel the evils which will face him on all sides. Lassitude has laid hold of his frame. His hardy fellow-man, he who rises early to his daily task will war mighty and withstand temptations. For, a shield and a buckler against vice is manual or mental occupation.
and They who scorn it are an impure excrescence on the body politic. Happily I address a people who, above all others, have imparted dignity to labor; who count among the highest in the land, men who that arose from penury to affluence and from obscurity to influence, only through diligent work. But to their children--and I wish I could address thousands in--stead of a few--to their children I will say with the words of my text. "Be strong and show yourselves men" Do not become enervated by ease and hence by a sport to debasing passions. Those glowing qualities which distinguish youth were not intended to be sunk in the mire of corruption. They are not wholly yours. They belong also to com--munity of your brethren, the offspring of Adam. You dare not waste them in profligacy. Stand in awe, therefore for nature will avenge itself. Have you perchance inherited extensive means? Cast them into the treasury of humanity. They should not turn into wea--pons of destruction, but they should minister to the comfort of the joyless, to the furtherance of social progress. Were you even a Cresus, in riches you must still work for a high purpose. To leave your country an exemplar worthy to be copied. I need not point out the pure channels, which you may cause to swell by the exertions of patriotism and philanthropy.
Are you not in affluence, but aim to gain it by dent of industry? The elements of greatness lie in your sinewy arms. With them you may strike the mines which will bring forth treasures. Envy not the owners of a large [?] estate. Your lot is happier than theirs. "Sweet is the sleep of the labour, whether he eats much2 or little1, but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep" Carry just balances and just weights on going in quest of gold. Dread temptation more than the prison and the gibbet, gather strength to crush it, and you will soar high and win fame by manly work. But to Israelites I must say more than I have said hitherto. The dying father who thus advised his son "Be strong and show thyself a man" fol--lowed that counsel by a sentence of deep significance. I will repeat it rehearse it again. "Keep the charge of the Lord thy God, to walk in His ways, to observe His statutes, His commandments, His ordinances, and His testimony, as written in the law of Moses, that thou mayest prosper in all that thou doest, and withersoever thou turnest thyself." Jewish youths! Rally round that standard, and you will be safe. It will cover you from the attack of lurking enemies. They The latter will behold you so well protested, that and despairing of success, they will flee away. Yes: allurements will move far from those, whose spirit is imbued with the moral
and religious precepts of the Divine legislation. This should be the basis of your strength, as it is the direction of life [Hebrew] the future reserved for your labor will then be lengthened in a path redolent of chaste delights, and when the whole course has been run, looking back, you will not discover traces of ineffeccable wrongs per--petrated, but only the memorials of a youth beautified by chastity deeds of piety and virtue. Be strong therefore and show yourselves men. - Identifier
- p34747b5z
- identifier
- SMBx9FF9_1
Part of Vayehi. Morais, Sabato. Philadelphia, PA. Undated
Morais, Sabato, “Vayehi. Morais, Sabato. Philadelphia, PA. Undated”, Sabato Morais Digital Repository, accessed September 19, 2024, https://judaicadhpenn.org/legacyprojects/s/morais/item/91280